Anamika mark group1to1 - unreleased

So, and Namika, thank you so much for making the time to have a chat about all things coaching between Australia and India and leading towards just a few different perspectives about running coaches and courses in India. Of course, me coming up to launching a product and wanting to learn more about what you do in the Indian coaching scene. So for all of my fellow coaches in Australia and quality mind mentors in Australia, can you tell us what it is you do?

Hi. Thank you so much, Mark, for having me here today and it's a pleasure talking to you. I'm a growth coach working with professionals and entrepreneurs. Basically. I'm also a catalyst in empowering women entrepreneurs because I resonate more in empowering them globally. Mentored and coached 30,000 plus professionals, advised, or you can say mentored 5,000 plus entrepreneurs to grow. I'm advisor to health and wellness brands as well. Basically on a mission to help 1 million working professionals and businesses to grow holistically. You know, basically helping them falling into the business zone rather than falling into the trap of burnout.

You've mentioned three pretty awesome topics in there. One, I'm seeing more and more of women helping women in business with a real direct focus. And it's great because historically I think businessmen took a long time to understand, first of all, that women needed an equal go. And then secondly, that if I summarize grossly, the first wave of business women that came through felt so strong and looks like they were actually crushing other women on the way up to the top. And it's lovely to see now that it's really evolving to something being a lot more collaborative and really embracing. What I think is, is it fair to say a more feminine, supportive energy?

Yes, yes, definitely. As they say, empowered women. Empower more women.

Excellent. Yeah, that's fantastic. And, but I just wanted to pick up on your ambitious target of a million people. I mean, why only a million?

So that is my first target. Once I reach that level, what will make bigger and bigger impact?

And of course, the burnout topic is one that, particularly in India, I think, because you've got all of those challenges of life, you've got, you know, the hustle, people working hard for either status or titles or money or property. One and a half billion people, you know, of which half a billion are the middle class working and competing against one another. Burnout's big and it's big in India and I think it's bigger. Is it fair to say bigger in sort of the higher end or the managerial end of affairs, or are you seeing it everywhere?

Frankly speaking, it's everywhere and in a way it is actually impacting the productivity that I see across most of the time people feel that mental fatigue, physical fatigue. It's not only about the hours they put in into work, but it's also something that adds on to that. So there are many factors as we see these days, you know, lot of devices that they use throughout the day, there is a lot of consumption of focus or energy that flows into this. Occupied all the time. And being occupied all the time also sort of like, you know, messes up your system.

Yes, absolutely fascinating. Well, I think you've certainly picked the growth areas for coaching over the next decade in India, that's for sure. When you coach, do you prefer groups, one on one, online, in person? What's working for you at the moment?

It depends totally on the client, a client's need. Basically one to one coaching is for people who need personalized coaching, customized strategies or you know, who have a goal set and they are, you know, really hyper focused to achieve that. Other cases wherein people want to work with a lot of learning that involves peer information, peer interaction experiences and some something related to this. So it's more about group coaching. So it totally depends on how the client wants it to be. And my personal preference would be group coaching. The reason being you get a lot of experience sharing a lot of cumulative learning that happens. I also do one on one coaching and it needs hyper focused accountability as well as hyper focused approach.

It's interesting. I think there's been a real shift over the past year or two to group coaching. And do you think zoom has played a part in that?

Yes, definitely. I think zoom has just eased the things now. People don't have to geographically travel from one place to another. It's more about, you know, you and me, like you're based in Australia, I'm in India, but yet we are having such a productive discussion here. Even in terms of coaching, the knowledge or the information or the clarity that somebody needs to get can be really accessible all over the globe. Mark, I would like to ask you one thing, like, you know, what do you think is better for you? Like what's working group or one on one?

Pre pandemic, I had all of the experience of managing offshore developers in India for Australian clients. And then of course when the pandemic began, anyone managing anyone anywhere, even if they were next door or on the other side of the world, it was all remote management. And one of the things that we put in place through the pandemic with our development team was that I think it came from a Harvard study or maybe a Google study where the most intelligent groups of people, the most productive groups, weren't an equal mix of black and white, or male and female, or religion or education, but it was all about everyone speaking for the same amount of time in a meeting made for the greatest intelligence in a group scenario. Worked really effectively on complex development projects. Yet as I started coaching, for some reason I assumed it was all about one on one. Yet all of my experience, not only in development teams and being a cio, but also teaching karate classes, it's one to many and you develop that skill of trying to find the right level for the different people at a different time to still be able to teach a multidisciplined or skilled class. Then I did the group coaching accreditation in 2023 and suddenly realized that with the right methodology, the groups are probably the most productive. You get the different inputs, the different energies, the crews I'm teaching at the moment or working with at the moment. We've got first nations or Aboriginal ladies from Australia, Arabs, English people and Australians all in the one crew. And it's fascinating. But I've also found that they do need that one on one personalization. Sometimes you to take that hyper energy from the group and channel it in a way that they need that maybe there wasn't a question they were comfortable asking in the group scenario. The groups are great for organizations because the organizations want to deliver a package. I think for the individuals, especially the higher level, they want the one on one because they want to express the vulnerability. How do you put that all together for the individual and the group and the organization and the scenario at the same time? Because if the group's too big, it's just like giving a lecture. Overall, I probably like the groups more, but it's a stronger connection with the individual if the coach client relationship gets to that next level of depth. Do you find as a coach that it's the moments are maybe in a 10 second burst when someone has that personal revelation, that generative moment.

Many a times during group coaching what happens is you have some sort of a doubt within yourself, like okay, whatever the coach is saying is completely okay, but I have certain issues that is probably overlapping with the existing one. So what could be a customized solution for my problem? So when we get into one on one coaching or when we provide them with that insight, in your case particularly, you might need X solution to this.

Yes.

So both has its own charm. I can say group coaching as well as one on one coaching. And it completely depends on the individual, like how far they are focused about their goals. Because many a times when people enter into group coaching, they get a clarity, oh, okay, this is how I need to have my perspective or this is what my perspective is and what the perception of other person is. This understanding can help them take a head to their personal coaching is what I've observed. Because unless and until you haven't been into group coaching, you won't understand what personalized coaching would be.